1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to producing poorly crystalline, carbon-containing molybdenum and tungsten sulfide catalysts. More particularly, this invention relates to producing poorly crystalline, carbon-containing molybdenum and tungsten sulfide catalysts by contacting ammonium or substituted ammonium thiomolybdate or thiotungstate salts with a hydrocarbon, hydrogen and sulfur at elevated temperature.
2. Background of the Disclosure
The petroleum industry is increasingly turning to coal, tar sands and heavy crudes as sources for future raw materials. Feedstocks derived from these heavy materials contain more sulfur and nitrogen than feedstocks derived from more conventional crude oils. Such feedstocks are commonly referred to as being dirty feeds. These feeds therefore require a considerable amount of upgrading in order to obtain usable products therefrom, such upgrading or refining generally being accomplished by hydrotreating which includes reactions such as hydrodesulfurization to remove sulfur compounds, hydrogenating to saturate olefins and condensed aromatics and also hydrodenitrogenation.
Catalysts most commonly used for these hydrotreating reactions include things such as cobalt molybdate on alumina, nickel on alumina, cobalt molybdate promoted with nickel, etc. Also, it is well-known to those skilled in the art to use certain transition metal sulfides such as cobalt and molybdenum sulfides and mixtures thereof to upgrade oils containing sulfur and nitrogen compounds by catalytically removing such compounds in the presence of hydrogen, which processes are collectively known as hydrorefining processes, it being understood that hydrorefining also includes some hydrogenation of aromatic and unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,462 discloses the use of molybdenum sulfide for hydrodesulfurizing gas oil and U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,135 discloses the use of molybdenum sulfide for hydrorefining sulfur and nitrogen-containing hydrocarbon oils. U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,603, discloses the use of molybdenum sulfide as a catalyst for the hydrogenation of heavy oils, while U.S. Pat. No. 3,074,783 discloses the use of molybdenum sulfides for producing sulfur-free hydrogen and carbon dioxide, wherein the molybdenum sulfide converts carbonyl sulfide to hydrogen sulfide. Molybdenum sulfide has other wellknown uses as a catalyst, including hydrogenation, and is also useful for the water gas shift and methanation reactions.
In general, with molybdenum and other transition metal sulfide catalysts as well as with other types of catalysts, higher catalyst surface areas generally result in more active catalysts then similar catalysts with lower surface areas. Thus, those skilled in the art are constantly trying to achieve catalysts that have higher surface areas. More recently, it has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,243,553, and 4,243,554 that molybdenum sulfide catalysts of relatively high surface area may be obtained by thermally decomposing selected thiomolybdate salts at temperatures ranging from 300.degree.-800.degree. C. in the presence of essentially inert, oxygen-free atmospheres. Suitable atmospheres are disclosed as consisting of argon, a vacuum, nitrogen and hydrogen. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,554 an ammonium thiomolybdate salt is decomposed at a rate in excess of 15.degree. C. per minute, whereas in U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,553, a substituted ammonium thiomolybdate salt is thermally decomposed at a very slow heating rate of from about 0.5 to 2.degree. C./min. The processes disclosed in these patents are claimed to produce molybdenum disulfide catalysts having superior properties for water gas shift and methanation reactions and for catalyzed hydrogenation or hydrotreating reactions.